Reinventing the Medical and Health Professions

College of Osteopathic Medicine & School of Health Professions

Reinventing the Medical and Health Professions Alexander Perissi (D.P.T. ’21) Physical Therapy

Andrew Pereira (B.S. ’20) Health Sciences Chelsea Kandasami (M.S. ’21) Occupational Therapy

Alyssa Weyer (D.O. ’20) Osteopathic Medicine (Arkansas)

Jonathan Phua (M.S. ’20) Physician Assistant Studies Cynthia Edimo (D.O. ’22) Osteopathic Medicine (New York)

Sahil Soni (D.O. ’22) Osteopathic Medicine (New York)

Esther Pierre (B.S. ’1 ) Nursing

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INSIDE O1

LETTER FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEALTH SCIENCES AND MEDICAL AFFAIRS

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FAST FACTS: NYIT COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE

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FAST FACTS: NYIT SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

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STUDENT IMPACT: MAKING A DIFFERENCE AT HOME AND ABROAD Studying to be a health professional means being committed to making a positive impact on communities around the world.

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ACTIVE RESEARCH: GOING HEADTO-HEAD AGAINST CONCUSSIONS NYIT Center for Sports Medicine is leading the charge on concussion care and research.

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PROFILES IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE Jason Bourke, Ph.D., Esther Pierre (nursing), and Hala Sabry (D.O. ’07, M.B.A. ’07).

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BRAIN THERAPY: NEW TREATMENTS FOR NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS Physicians and health professionals are improving the lives of those with neurological disorders.

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PROFILES IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE Julia Molnar, Ph.D., Tyler King (NYITCOM-Arkansas), and Amanda Caruso (B.S. ’17, M.S. ’18).

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FIGHTING STRESS AND BURNOUT: HEAL THYSELF NYIT takes steps to combat the stress and burnout health providers experience early in their education.

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PROFILES IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE Christopher Frumusa (B.S. ’14), Alix Anand (M.S. ’12), and Nina Luksanapol (NYITCOM-Long Island)

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LEADERSHIP

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LETTER FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEALTH SCIENCES AND MEDICAL AFFAIRS Dear Friends, As vice president for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs at New York Institute of Technology, it is my privilege to oversee the diverse array of medical and health professions programs offered by NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) and NYIT School of Health Professions. Our faculty, staff, students, and alumni have helped transform health care for more than 40 years. Their impact is felt every day through the care they give their patients and the leadership they provide at the local and national level.

Little did I know, during my first visit to NYIT to teach ACLS to medical students in 1994, how much the university would evolve over the coming years or that I would have the privilege of joining NYIT and taking on a leadership role. Now, we have two locations: in Long Island (Old Westbury, N.Y.), where we prepare doctors of osteopathic medicine, occupational and physical therapists, nurses, physician assistants, and other health professionals for successful careers, and on the campus of Arkansas State University at Jonesboro (NYITCOM-Arkansas), which trains much-needed physicians to practice in the underserved Mississippi Delta region and opened in 2016. Our D.O./ Ph.D. program will start this year, and I am looking forward to programs like the combined M.B.A. and the M.S. in Simulation Medicine bringing in new students, even more excitement, and additional faculty to our university.

Alumni may also be surprised to see how our physical spaces have changed. To move the school forward not only requires extraordinary faculty doing groundbreaking research (you can read more about them in this report), but also state-of-the-art labs and facilities in which students can get real-world practice alongside faculty mentors.

Take, for example, our plans for our simulation center expansion project. In this highly immersive environment, medical and health professions students will benefit from the interface between the knowledge gained through study and the experience gained from real and simulated patient relations. And we support students in other ways, including by fostering a culture of compassion, reinforcing the responsibility students have to their patients, and ensuring students practice good self-care. After all, clinicians who have a deep understanding of themselves can provide better, more empathetic care to others.

At both our campuses, our passion for health care is contagious. Whether by providing care at one of our global sites, volunteering at the student-run free clinic on Long Island, or expanding health care to medically underserved communities in the Mississippi Delta region, NYITCOM and School of Health Professions students are making a difference.

I hope you enjoy learning about the good work that happens here every day.

Sincerely,

JERRY BALENTINE, D.O., FACEP, FACOEP Dean, NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Vice President, Health Sciences and Medical Affairs

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NYIT de Seversky Mansion on the Long Island campus is home to NYITCOM facilities including the Wellness Gym and the Center for Biomedical Innovation.

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FAST FACTS

NYIT COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE Total Number of Students: ,606

DOCTORAL DEGREES n

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D.O./Osteopathic Medicine (N.Y., Ark.) B.S./D.O. Available in conjunction with several colleges, including NYIT. D.O./M.B.A. (N.Y., Ark.) D.O./M.S. in Nutrition (N.Y., Ark.) D.O./M.S. in Neuromusculoskeletal Sciences (N.Y., Ark.) This five-year program prepares medical students for careers in academic medicine. Partial academic scholarships awarded.

D.O./Ph.D. (N.Y., Ark.) Our highly competitive seven‑year Medical and Biological Sciences program trains osteopathic physician-scientists who will, through their research, drive the practice of medicine into the future.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS n

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Global Health: The Certificate in Global Health immerses students in a challenging interdisciplinary curriculum and provides the opportunity to understand health policy, practice, and the significant health challenges facing the world’s underserved populations.

Telehealth/Telemedicine (Ark.) Research: Areas include cardiac health, nephrology, Parkinson’s disease, sports medicine, DNA, and biomedical sciences.

NYITCOM (LONG ISLAND) FACTS: n n n

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First osteopathic medical school in New York.

3,000+ clinical and residency opportunities nationally.

7,600 NYITCOM graduates practicing in all areas of medicine across the United States.

Student run free clinic serving Long Island residents.

Exceptional placement rate.

NYITCOM (ARKANSAS) FACTS: n n

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First osteopathic medical school in Arkansas.

Jonesboro Hub of Health Care serves people in dozens of counties in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri.

Mobile health-care clinic serving vulnerable populations across the Mississippi Delta region.

Located on the campus of Arkansas State University ( Jonesboro).

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The fountain on the Long Island campus provides a place of calm for health professions and medical students.

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FAST FACTS

NYIT SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS Total Number of Students: 700

INTERDISCIPLINARY HEALTH SCIENCES n

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Undergraduate Majors: Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, Health and Wellness Undergraduate Minors: Health Sciences, Health Services Administration Graduate: Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition (online only)

NURSING n

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY n

Master of Science in Occupational Therapy

PHYSICAL THERAPY n

Doctor of Physical Therapy

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES n

Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies

PASS RATES/RANKINGS n

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Occupational Therapy, M.S.: 100% pass rate,

NBCOT (National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy), 2019 Physician Assistant Studies, M.S.: 100% first-time pass rate, Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE), 2016, 2017, 2018 Physical Therapy, D.P.T.: 94.9% first-time pass rate, National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), 2016–2018 Nursing, B.S.: 92.3%, National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), 2017; top 60 Nursing Schools in New York, 2018 (Source: Nursing Schools Almanac) Clinical Nutrition, M.S.: 3rd Best Online Master’s in Nutrition Programs, 2019 (source: onlinemasters.com)

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Student Impact

MAKING A DIFFERENCE AT HOME AND ABROAD Studying to be a health professional at NYIT means being committed to making a positive impact on communities around the world. NYIT students get hands-on experience in their chosen fields while volunteering their services and doing good at the same time.

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n June 2018, eight NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) students embarked on a service-learning trip to deliver medical outreach to underserved populations in Ghana. Although it was the eighth time NYIT’s Center for Global Health had taken students to Ghana, this trip was special.

Lillian Niwagaba, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of NYIT’s Center for Global Health, introduced her students to Bismark Adu-Appiah, who previously served as the NYIT group’s interpreter in 2012. Now Adu-Appiah himself was a medical student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Medical Sciences, a career path he says was inspired by his experience with the Center for Global Health. Getting there wasn’t easy—Adu-Appiah applied

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NYITCOM medical students from the Long Island and Arkansas locations mingle with members of the community on their servicelearning trip to Ghana.

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Student Impact

to medical school five times before he was accepted. He persevered thanks to former NYITCOM student Jackie Chua (D.O. ’15), M.P.H., who encouraged him to keep trying. “The opportunity of service to others in terms of health fascinated me,” Adu-Appiah says. “I was amazed how much I could contribute to the average Ghanaian.” He reached out to Niwagaba and arranged for the NYIT group to meet with his medical school dean and learn about medical training in Ghana.

That’s what the Center for Global Health is all about, says Niwagaba. “Our global health impact in Ghana is not limited to medical outreach in the hospitals and clinics, but to the people we interact with and meet along the way.”

The Center for Global Health is a joint initiative of NYITCOM, NYIT School of Health Professions, and other schools and colleges at NYIT dedicated to developing health-care professionals ready to tackle the global burden of disease and health disparities at home and abroad. The center offers courses leading to a Certificate in Global Health as well as medical outreach programs via trips to Ghana, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. Over several weeks, students learn about the health system of the country they are visiting, shadow local doctors, offer workshops on public health topics, conduct health screenings, and provide medical supplies and care—all while being supervised by their NYIT preceptors or local doctors.

While the impact on the communities they serve is huge, Niwagaba says the students take away as much as they give. “Students are exposed to medical pathologies and cultures they are unlikely to see at home,” says Niwagaba.

“The educational impact is immeasurable—no matter where they serve.”

This is true of other programs as well.

Last February, Kelly A. Lavin (B.S. ’02), O.T.D., OTR/L, assistant professor in NYIT School of Health Professions, took 12 occupational therapy students on a fieldwork experience to Morocco.

The students worked with people of all

(Above) Medical student Anita Thomas holds a newborn at Hawa Memorial Saviour Hospital.

(Facing) Top: Medical student Tyler Nghiem demonstrates how to take vitals to school children. Bottom: The team returns to the hospital after a long day at the community clinic.

age groups at clinics across the country including the MAIR Neuro­ rehabilitation Clinic, the only nursing home in Morocco (which also serves as an orphanage), and the King Mohammed VI Rehab School.

The visit came at the invitation of a colleague of Lavin’s, who returned home to Morocco to start its first occupational therapy program.

Because there are no licensed occupational therapists in Morocco, Lavin says the need has largely been filled by self-trained volunteers.

Her students trained and guided the volunteers and brought supplies and monetary donations they had collected. They raised $1,900 to benefit Clinic Azrou, a privately funded clinic in danger of closing, that provides services to children with traumatic brain injuries and cerebral palsy. Lavin hopes to return in 2020.

“The employees there were not paid and were working out of the goodness of their hearts. The moment they saw the donations, they were all in tears and so were we,” recalls NYIT occupational therapy

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student Kaitlin Mulhall. “It was amazing to see the effect we had on these people.”

C A RE C L O S E R T O H O ME

Kanawha County, Charleston, W. Va., is classified as an urban blight area in Appalachia. “The community has a very high rate of substance abuse and obesity,” says Melanie Austin (B.S. ’00), O.T.D., M.P.A., assistant professor of Occupational Therapy.

Last March, she and Zehra Ahmed (B.S. ’04, M.S. ’18), PA-C, M.B.B.S., assistant professor and chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, brought students from the nursing, occupational therapy, and physician assistant (PA) programs to Charleston to learn more about the challenges of working in underserved communities and to help develop solutions.

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Student Impact

The students partnered with community leader Pastor Matthew Watts of HOPE Community Development Center (CDC) to conduct interactive workshops addressing the emotional, physical, sexual, social, and environmental health needs for community members of all ages.

They also worked with a group of women living at a halfway house. “It was just amazing and inspiring to see our students connect with these women and empower them to take control over their own health,” says Ahmed, who also serves as assistant director for cultural competency and community education for the Center for Global Health.

The students learned about public health in a way they never could in a classroom. Physician assistant student

(Above) While doing fieldwork in Essaouira, Morocco, occupational therapy students and faculty members had the opportunity to see goats that climb argan trees to eat the nuts.

Tahia Syeda recalls, “I learned how we can target the fundamental beliefs of a community to improve their outcomes—medically, economically, and socially.”

Closer to campus, NYITCOM offers free medical care to uninsured patients through the NYIT Community Free Clinic at the Family Health Care Center in Central Islip, N.Y. Established in 2016, the clinic is open two Sunday afternoons per month (from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and is staffed by NYITCOM faculty and students. “We are in a unique position to offer a hands-on clinical educational experience for our medical students while also providing a valuable and much-needed service to uninsured residents of the area,” says Sonia Rivera-Martinez (D.O. ’02), associate professor and associate medical director of the Family Health Care Center and director of the NYIT Community Free Clinic.

“The students are involved in all aspects of the clinic,” says Rivera-Martinez. “They register the patients when they arrive, take histories, present the case to the attending, and under supervision, execute the plan of care. They do the documentation in the electronic health record and any follow up with the patient that’s required in terms of blood tests or imaging.”

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For patients, the impact of the clinic is also profound. “We’ve seen hundreds of patients,” says Rivera-Martinez. “We’ve also been able to assist a number of patients in getting health insurance, and then they continue to see us at the Family Health Center.”

While the volunteer experience is currently limited to NYITCOM students, Rivera-Martinez hopes to expand it to include students from the School of Health Professions. “Having students and faculty members in health professions working side by side with medical students will create an interdisciplinary and team-based environment for all students to learn a patient-centered model of care,” she says.

F IL L IN G T HE P H Y S I C I A N V O ID

The Mississippi Delta region has some of the lowest number of physicians per capita in the entire nation. That’s why, when NYITCOM decided to expand to a second location, it partnered with Arkansas State University.

“Arkansas ranks near the bottom of health-care outcomes nationally,” says Shane Speights, D.O., FAAFP, site dean, NYITCOM-Arkansas, and associate professor of Medicine. “This school was developed specifically to meet that need and combat the health-care depression of the region.”

And Speights hopes not just to increase the number of physicians, but also the diversity of those physicians. That’s a big reason students there selected the National Outreach for Diversity (NOD) program as their first student-led outreach program.

NOD sends medical students into local schools to provide important public health information and expose youngsters to potential health careers. The NYITCOM chapter specifically targets the most impoverished elementary and middle schools in the region. “We mentor students, exemplifying professional behavior, encouraging the importance of receiving a collegiate education, and inspiring them with the notion that a career within various STEM and medical professions is feasible,” says medical student and NOD co-director Alexis Antonopolous. (The group also teaches Microsociety Magnet School students.)

Another program, held in conjunction with the School of Health Professions, brings high school juniors and seniors to the Arkansas campus to learn about nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, radiation technology, ultrasound technology, and medicine.

“We work closely with high school guidance counselors and target kids who would not otherwise have this opportunity,” says Speights.

“We’re looking to help kids who probably never thought about going to college but are perfectly capable, and with some mentorship, might truly change their lives.”

TA K IN G HE A LT H O N T HE R O A D

This summer, with more than $800,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NYITCOM-Arkansas will bring health care to underserved and rural populations thanks to the Delta Care-a-Van—a mobile medical clinic. Currently in development, the van will have two exam rooms and state of-the-art telemedicine technology. The plan is to travel to rural communities to provide preventative care services and health education free of cost and without need for an appointment.

Patients will receive health education and screenings for untreated

(Above) Daniel Parrinello, a secondyear medical student at NYITCOM-Arkansas, leads elementary school students through an exercise at a National Outreach for Diversity event.

“We’re looking to help kids who probably never thought about going to college but are perfectly capable, and with some mentorship, might truly change their lives.”

—SHANE SPEIGHTS

chronic conditions including obesity, diabetes, and anxiety and depression.

“We recognize that underserved populations often have difficulty making it to a health care provider, so our plan is to bring the resources and education to them,” says Speights. “At the same time, this service will provide valuable clinical training to an army of future physicians and health-care professionals.”

In addition to their conventional medical studies, all Arkansas-based medical students are required to complete a population health certificate program. The Delta Care-a-Van will provide the opportunity to apply that knowledge. Under the guidance of faculty and trained medical experts, students will conduct screenings and wellness examinations to monitor blood pressure, blood glucose, and signs of mental health conditions. Patients needing additional treatment will be connected to local providers. They can also receive an on-the-spot telemedicine consultation, building upon the college’s mission to be among the first U.S. medical schools to train first-year medical students in telemedicine.

“We plan for all our students to participate in programs like the Delta Care-a-Van at some level,” says Speights.

“We believe it’s important for students to start making a difference before they graduate, and this initiative will be a prime example of that.” n

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Active Research

GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD AGAINST CONCUSSIONS Experts at NYIT’s Center for Sports Medicine are leading the charge on concussion care and research.

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ccording to claims data from Blue Cross Blue Shield, concussion diagnoses increased 43 percent between 2010 and 2015. Diagnoses of children and teens increased by 71 percent (likely fueled by the student-athlete population). Not only do these young people suffer more concussions, they experience the effects longer than adults.

Researchers at NYITCOM and NYIT School of Health Professions are fighting back. At the Center for Sports Medicine, medical professionals are taking a leading role in providing comprehensive care for concussion patients, including student-athletes from NYIT, Long Island University’s Post campus, and nearby Long Island high schools.

“Through research, we want to offer the best quality treatment for patients suffering from head injuries,” says Center for Sports Medicine Director Hallie Zwibel, M.P.H. (D.O. ’11). “Student-athletes—and all of our patients—benefit from medical personnel, technology, and resources that most other concussion centers simply don’t have.”

That includes an interdisciplinary approach to care from a team of providers— including physical therapists, occupational therapists,

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Using digital mouthguards, NYIT men’s lacrosse student-athletes took part in a study to measure impacts during play.

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psychologists, neurologists, and physicians with special training in musculoskeletal medicine—all in one place.

“Student-athletes have their whole lives ahead of them,” says Eric Greenberg, PT, D.P.T., SCS, CSCS, assistant professor of Physical Therapy and a member of the Center for Sports Medicine team. “It’s our priority, as rehabilitation specialists, to ensure they return safely. That decision is made by medical personnel, the athlete, and the coaching staff and depends entirely on specific circumstances.”

While most concussion research has focused on football, recent studies at NYIT have looked at what happens to athletes who suffer subconcussive hits, which Zwibel defines as “impacts that don’t result in concussion but might happen repeatedly during a game.”

In spring 2018, the Center for Sports Medicine partnered with the NYIT men’s lacrosse team to understand the effect repeated “checks” during play have on athletes. Ten student-athletes wore mouthguards with digital sensors that measured impacts throughout the season.

The results were enlightening. One athlete sustained more than 1,700 hits, many measuring over 80gs of force, the equivalent of being in a 40-mile-per-hour car accident while wearing a seat belt.

Remarkably, the student-athletes did not detect any noticeable difference in their memory or reaction time, but cognitive testing revealed subtle declines in verbal and visual memory and cognitive reactions.

“It’s these subtle differences that could cause significant problems long term,” says Zwibel.

In fall 2018, researchers continued the study and asked members of the NYIT women’s soccer team to wear sensors to measure impacts.

They also tested salivary biomarkers. “Studies show that you can examine these different markers not only to diagnose a concussion, but also to see who’s at greater risk for a prolonged symptomology,” says Zwibel, who adds the information could lead to real breakthroughs. “A lot of people play football, but not everyone is getting CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], right? We’re trying to see what is predisposing people to long-term consequences.”

As an occupational therapist in the School of Health Professions, Assistant Professor Christina Finn, Ed.D., is also focused on combating concussions. Working in the NYIT Center for Sports Medicine, she does vision screenings for patients, develops treatment plans, and is involved in concussion education programs for coaches and parents. For her dissertation, Finn created a training program for faculty members on concussion and its impact on academic performance.

Now at NYIT, she’s employing smart technology in her research by using a Fitbit and smartphone app to help patients track concussion symptoms. “When a student feels symptoms, such as headache or nausea or dizziness, they indicate that on the app and log what they’re doing in terms of activity,” Finn explains. She then compares that information with data from the Fitbit to see if there was an increased heart rate or other physiological response. “By keeping track of symptoms, we can help patients determine what activities or environments provoke those symptoms so they are better able to manage them,” says Finn.

Center for Sports Medicine practitioners also use osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM)—a tenet of osteopathic medical care—to treat concussion patients and study its impact on recovery.

Sheldon Yao (D.O. ’02), associate professor and chair of the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, is leading an ongoing

“Through research, we want to offer the best-quality treatment for patients suffering from head injuries.”

—HALLIE ZWIBEL

(Right) Bhavesh Joshi, D.O., and NYITCOM-Arkansas medical students Colton Eubanks (left) and Lucas Eeftink (right) treat athletes during games and practices.

(Below, left to right) Hallie Zwibel assesses the balance of a patient, Eric Greenberg provides physical therapy services to a student-athlete, and Christina Finn performs a vision test for concussion symptoms.

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SIDELINE SUPPORT At NYITCOM-Arkansas, Sports Medicine Specialist Bhavesh Joshi, D.O., assistant professor of Clinical Medicine, ensures his students do more than stand on the sidelines of sports injury research and medicine. He and a team of students travel with the Division I A-State football team to provide medical assistance.

“They are able to apply their history taking, physical exam skills, and osteopathic manipulation in an integrated real-world experience,” he says. “I love having students shadow me to see how wide and diversified the field of medicine can be!”

study to compare concussion patients who receive OMM with those who only receive counseling. “Any athlete that has a concussion needs to be cleared by our physicians,” says Yao. They also can participate in a research study investigating the effects of OMM on sports concussion injuries. So far, 32 people have signed up for the study.

With many concussion injuries, the person suffers something similar to whiplash—the head gets knocked around and the muscles spasm. “That contributes to their pain, headache, and other concussion symptoms,” Yao explains. Already, he says, the study has demonstrated that the group treated with OMM had significant improvements in terms of symptom severity and number of symptoms compared with patients who did not receive OMM. Yao recently submitted the research for publication.

“The results are important because there are very few treatment options for concussion, and OMM can potentially reduce concussion symptoms to help the athletes recover quicker,” he says.

Adds Zwibel: “We believe that if we can manipulate part of the body to put it into proper alignment, it helps the body heal itself.” n

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PROFILES IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE JA SON BOURK E , PH.D .

AS S I STA N T PR OF ESSOR , BAS IC S C IE N C ES NY I TC O M (A R K A N SAS)

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ssistant Professor Jason Bourke, Ph.D., has always been fascinated by his field of study. “I was bitten by the ‘dino bug’ as a four-year-old, when my mother read me a book about dino­ saurs,” he says. “Dinosaurs are for everyone. They are so much more than just the real-life monsters that captured our imaginations as children. They were living, breathing animals

that were just as rich as any animal alive today.”

Bourke’s work studying the biology and behavior of dinosaurs is changing the world of modern medicine. Last year, he, along with a team of researchers, posed a new theory to answer an old question: How did gigantic, heavily armored dinosaurs, such as the club-tailed ankylosaurus, avoid overheating in the warm Mesozoic climate? Their answer?

Dinosaurs came equipped with an intricate cooling system... in their snouts.

“We wanted to see if there were ways to protect the brain from ‘cooking,’” says Bourke. “It turns out the nose may be the key and likely housed a built-in air conditioner.” The study was published in the December 19 issue of PLOS ONE. Bourke also invites eager med students to participate in his dinosaur nose research, including by doing comparative dissections, contrast-enhancement injections, computerized tomography (CT) scanning, and 3-D modeling of the CT data.

It’s a great time for them

to get involved. The field of paleontology, Bourke notes, has changed greatly over the past 20 years, and today’s researchers do much more than describe specimens.

“Many of us are now actively working on reconstructing how these animals lived, what they looked like, how their brains were partitioned, and ultimately, what they were capable of doing as living animals,” he explains.

“Through hard work and a solid foundation in comparative anatomy and physiology, dinosaurs have become more real now than ever before in human history.”

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E S T HER PIERRE B.S., NU R SI N G, CLASS O F 2 0 19 S C H OOL OF H EA LT H PR OF ES S IO N S

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sther Pierre knew from a young age that she wanted to feel empowered by her career. At 13, her life was marked by tragedy when her father fell ill and passed away.

“I knew that I never wanted to experience that feeling of helplessness again,” she says.

“I also knew that I wanted to care for people in need.”

Nursing became her calling.

Despite a busy course load, Pierre has found time to be involved in extracurricular activities, including the National Society of Leadership, National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA), and Greater New York City National Black Nurses

Association (GNYC-BNA). She also served as a senator for the junior nursing class. She is currently tackling her final year of the program, has been more hands-on at the hospital, and is “loving every minute of it.”

From the moment Pierre stepped foot on the campus, she was in awe of the buildings, the greenery, and peaceful environment, which seemed calm even on busy school days. “NYIT is a home away from home,” she says. “There are professors and advisors who are genuinely committed to helping you achieve your goals.”

Her journey was also aided by two scholarships. “I am very

thankful for the help I receive from financial aid. It makes it possible for me to attend school and take advantage of so many opportunities.”

Pierre believes that anything is possible if you put your mind

to it: “The Bible says, ‘Seek and you shall find,’ and I believe that. Don’t be the type of person who reads an encouraging article but then fails to take initiative. Get up, start your engine, your mind, and go!”

LA Council where she is fundraising for their museum in Washington D.C. “The hope is it will honor the thousands of women who have contributed

to history but are missing from history books,” she says.

A strong community is important to Sabry—and something she appreciated about NYIT. “I only have positive memories of medical school. ... I am still in touch with many of my mentors.”

Now she is the mentor, including to an exclusive group of five: her children. “To have the fuel to do what I do, I need to make sure that I’m happy and fulfilled.

In order to do that, I need to immerse myself in projects that are meaningful to me and representative of my character, After all, my children are watching. I want them to look at me and be proud. And I want them to think, ‘I can do that too.’”

H A LA S A BRY (D.O. ’07, M.B.A. ’07) ER DOCTOR , F OU N D ER OF T H E P H YS IC IA N M O M S GR OU P, A N D COM M U N I T Y A N D H E A LT H - CA RE A DVO CAT E NY I TC O M ( LON G I SLA N D)

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ala Sabry (D.O. ’07, M.B.A. ’07) always had big dreams.

When she decided to attend NYITCOM, she also pursued an M.B.A. with the goal of working in the health-care industry. “I knew I couldn’t save the world,” she says, “but I wanted to protect and help doctors whose roles were changing in our health-care system so they can continue to save the world.”

Since graduating, her goals

have evolved. She still helps her fellow doctors (in 2014, she founded the support network Physician Moms Group), but her focus is broader. In addition to working as an emergency room doctor at two hospitals in Los Angeles, Sabry partnered with UNICEF to start a program aimed at eradicating tetanus in developing countries.

She also serves on the National Women’s History Museum’s

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Brain Therapy

NEW TREATMENTS FOR NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS With novel, interdisciplinary approaches to care, physicians and health professionals at NYIT are improving the lives of those with neurological disorders and making breakthroughs in the field.

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alk into a Rock Steady Boxing session at the NYIT de Seversky Wellness Gym on the Long Island campus and you’re greeted by the steady thump of fists against speed bags.

But these boxers aren’t training for the ring, they are Parkinson’s disease patients, mostly older adults, involved in Rock Steady Boxing—a unique fitness program designed to help them maintain and improve their motor skills and balance. And their coaches are physicians, students, and other health professionals from NYITCOM and NYIT School of Health Professions.

The program is just one of several areas where New York Institute of Technology is taking a new holistic approach to helping patients with neurological disorders. “Good health is a lifelong goal requiring a variety of specialists working together for the benefit of every member of our society,” says Gordon Schmidt, Ph.D., FACSM, dean of NYIT School of Health Professions. “To achieve that, we work with many disciplines

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A participant in Rock Steady Boxing spars against a dummy as a student volunteer demonstrates technique.

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Brain Therapy

at NYIT and with health professionals in our community.”

B O X IN G T O F IND B A L A N C E

Approximately 1 million people in the United States have Parkinson’s disease and 60,000 are diagnosed each year, according to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. The neurodegenerative disease erodes parts of the brain associated with motor control and patients slowly lose control of their body as the disease progresses.

“Rock Steady Boxing is a vigorous

exercise program for patients with Parkinson’s,” says neurologist Adena Leder (D.O. ’99), director of NYIT’s Adele Smithers Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Center and a specialist in movement disorders.

She helped start NYIT’s Rock Steady Boxing program, an affiliate of a national program, in 2016.

And the program goes beyond exercises in the gym. “Improved fitness is only one of our goals for this program,” says Rosemary Gallagher, PT, D.P.T., Ph.D., associate professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at NYIT School of Health Professions. “Parkinson’s disease can be very isolating due to the physical manifestations of the disease. One of our primary goals is socialization, for both our boxers and caregivers.”

Gallagher also notes that the program’s interdisciplinary nature (in addition to Leder and Gallagher, staff members include physical and occupational therapists and other specialists) not only helps boxers, but also gives student volunteers the opportunity to learn about related fields.

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occupational, and speech therapy services to patients at the Riland Academic Health Care Center.

“We’re the only center in this area that offers specialized therapy in all of those areas in one place,” says Leder.

“We know Parkinson’s. Everyone works as a team, and it’s a one-stop shop for our patients. We’re looking for ways to improve the course of their disease and their quality of life.”

One aspect of treatment that sets the center apart is the use of osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM).

According to Sheldon Yao (D.O. ’02), associate professor and chair of the NYITCOM Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, OMM helps decrease some of the muscle spasm and motor problems that often accompany Parkinson’s disease. One of his studies, published in the journal NeuroRehabilitation, demonstrated that OMM techniques targeting the spine and extremities are effective in helping to improve motor function and balance in subjects with more advanced Parkinson’s disease.

“By using different techniques, we are able to get the muscles to function better and eliminate spasms, which improves patients’ stride and balance,” Yao says. “Because they’re able to ambulate better and are feeling more balanced, they’re able to do more. It really helps with quality of life.

R A RE E X P E R T I S E

And research shows it works. According to pilot study results presented at the 2018 International Conference on Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, patients who participated in the program had faster reaction times than patients who did not. “Reaction time is something that could eventually lead to falling or not being able to drive, which are huge lifestyle changes,” says NYITCOM medical student Christopher McLeod. “[This study] shows how Rock Steady Boxing and exercise programs that use sequences could help slow the decline, or maintain a level of functioning longer, in Parkinson’s disease.”

ME D IC A L F O UND AT I O N

Rock Steady Boxing is an extension of the comprehensive, interdisciplinary care provided by the Adele Smithers Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Center. It also provides medical care along with physical,

(Above) Adena Leder (center) works with participants of Rock Steady Boxing on the Long Island campus.

The Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) are a group of connective tissue disorders that can be inherited and are varied both in how they affect the body and in their genetic causes. They are generally characterized by joint hypermobility (joints that stretch farther than normal), skin hyperextensibility (skin that can be stretched further than normal), and tissue fragility.

It’s a rare disease—difficult to diagnose and harder to treat—and specialists are few and far between. Bernadette Riley, D.O., associate professor at NYITCOM and director of the center,

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Brain Therapy

says that’s part of what makes the university’s Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Treatment Center so remarkable.

While 13 of the EDS subtypes have a known genetic association, the focus of the center, hypermobile EDS and hypermobility spectrum disorders, do not. “Our focus is on symptomatic relief of all the comorbidities, including neurological manifestations,” says Riley.

These include severe headaches, neck pain, vertigo, and TMJ disorders.

The NYIT EDS/Hypermobility Treatment Center is unique in that it provides necessary care to patients in one setting, including primary care, neurology, occupational and physical therapy, OMM for symptom relief, and cognitive behavioral therapy to help patients cope with their pain.

“Our patients really appreciate that all of our doctors are familiar with hypermobility and with the cranial instabilities that can also be present,” says Riley, who is involved in research on various aspects of EDS and hypermobility treatment, including OMM and psychological treatment. “There is a lot of potential to add to the knowledge base.”

A P H Y S IC A L A P P R O A C H

Exercise can also benefit young people with neurological disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

NYIT has joined forces with Inclusive Sports and Fitness (ISF), a Suffolk County-based nonprofit that helps children with developmental and intellectual disorders advance their sensorimotor, social, emotional, and cognitive abilities.

ISF was created in 2013 by Occupational Therapist Alexander Lopez, J.D., now associate professor at NYIT School of Health Professions. “ASD is a disruption in the neural pathway of core processing of information,” he explains. “Patients have difficulty processing information in the brain and can be hyper- or hyposensitive to sensory feedback.” ISF creates activities for

(Above) Sheldon Yao uses OMM to help a patient.

(Right) Students in the Vocational Independence Program take academic classes and develop executive functioning skills.

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individuals that help rewire the brain so that they can perform more typically.

“The training that we do is repetitive in nature,” explains Lopez. “It may not be the same every time because we want some novelty, but we try to do repetitive activities that teach participants how to move their bodies more effectively.

That creates new neural pathways and learning experiences that can be transferred to other things.”

Lopez says the NYIT collaboration is helping take ISF to the next level.

“We’re bringing science and medicine together for the best interests of children and adults with autism,” he says.

Eventually, the university hopes to open a center on campus. The program is also highly interdisciplinary. “We all feel there is tremendous potential here,” says Schmidt. “Our involvement as an institution to take this research to the next level is integral to our mission. We want our faculty to gain collaborations across many disciplines.”

Lopez’s principal NYIT collaborators include Thomas Chan (D.O. ’99), assistant professor of Clinical Specialties; Sara Winter (M.S. ’08), PA-C, M.S.P.A., SLP, assistant professor of Physician Assistant Studies; and Peter Douris, PT, Ed.D., D.P.T., professor of Physical Therapy. It also involves faculty from NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences—Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D., Huanying (Helen) Gu, Ph.D., and Maryam Ravan, Ph.D.— who are incorporating virtual reality into interventions for children with ASD and using electroencephalogram tests to look at brain changes that result from these interventions.

“We’re hoping this unique collaboration makes us more innovative than any other center in terms of service and research,” says Lopez.

O UR S T UD E N T S A RE V IP S

NYIT’s collaboration with the ISF program is a natural, given the institution’s Vocational Independence Program (VIP), a three-year program for college-aged students with mild

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(Above) Medical professionals and staff in the NYIT EDS/Hypermobility Treatment Center provide comprehensive care to patients with EhlersDanlos syndrome.

“Good health is a lifelong goal requiring a variety of specialists working together for the benefit of every member of our society,” —GORDON SCHMIDT

intellectual disabilities—mostly high-functioning autism—that began in 1987. Students in the program take non-credit classes in executive functioning, social skills and communication, independent living, and employment skills. Each student also has an academic advisor; social counselor; and independent living, job, and banking coaches. The goal is for students to graduate with the skills to live independently and hold a job. “Very few programs provide all of these experiences as well as the individualized social, academic, employment, and financial coaching,” says Paul Cavanagh, Ph.D., senior director of the program.

Associate Professor Kelly A. Lavin (B.S. ’02), O.T.D., OTR/L, an occupational therapist, works with VIP students on executive function, her area of specialty. “Executive functioning is essentially the ability to plan and execute your day—take a shower, go to work, remember to buy dog food. It’s the ability to attend to what you need to attend to and filter out what you don’t,” she explains. Many disorders such as ASD are associated with what she calls “executive dysfunction.”

She is now collaborating with Cavanagh on research to study the efficacy of particular executive function interventions on VIP students.

To help them, she has engaged occupational therapy students at NYIT, SUNY Stony Brook, and Touro College to help VIP students with social skills, daily activities, and job searching.

“This is one of the biggest challenges for this population,” she says.

“Our goal is to develop an evidence-based intervention model that can really be effective in facilitating changes in our VIP students’ executive function skills.” n

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PROFILES IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE JULI A MOLN A R, PH.D. AS S I STA N T PR OF ESSOR , A N ATO M Y NY I TC O M ( N EW YOR K )

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or Assistant Professor Julia Molnar, Ph.D., the road to biomedical sciences wasn’t an obvious one. She received her undergraduate degree in fine arts and a master’s in medical illustration from Johns Hopkins University. When she moved to London to work as a research technician, she got her Ph.D. in comparative anatomy.

Now, her work has shifted from illustration to animal

locomotion. “I study how animals move, and how their movement changes over time and in different environments,” she explains. “For example, chameleons and monkeys both live primarily in trees, and both have hands and feet that are adapted for grasping.

However, while monkeys grasp branches between their fingers and thumbs, chameleons have two ‘super

digits’ on each hand and foot that are held together by skin, producing a pincerlike structure.

Two different animals with the same mechanical problem arrived at two anatomically different solutions.”

Her research has the potential to help veterinarians and conservationists provide better care for animals, she says, by giving them a better understanding of vertebrate locomotion from a comparative and evolutionary perspective.

Her students also benefit from her work—both in class and as research assistants.

Molnar teaches anatomy to firstyear medical students. While

some programs are moving toward virtual anatomy and away from cadavers, she thinks it’s important for students to interact with the human body.

“It gives the students a chance to really connect with their first ‘patient,’” she says. “They are inspired by the generosity of a stranger who wanted to help them become doctors.”

The connection between researcher and subject is meaningful to Molnar. “The process of learning about the world around us, the creatures we share it with, and the patterns that persist over time and across species enrich us regardless of research outcomes.”

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T Y LER K ING D.O. , OST EOPAT H I C M EDIC IN E , C L AS S O F 2 0 2 0 NY I TC O M (A R K A N SAS)

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edicine runs in Tyler King’s family—his grandfather was a urologist—but it wasn’t until he spent four years with Teach For America that he decided to pursue medicine, “I already knew about education inequity from some of my classes in college, but it is another thing to see the disparity up close every day,” said King, who taught history in a charter school in Texas. “One of my students tragically passed away from a manageable autoimmune disease in my last year of teaching, and I had to wonder if she had had access to a permanent primary care physician if things might have been different.”

Now, as a third-year medical student, King is helping change things for the better.

As a member of the inaugural Arkansas class, King says he has felt nurtured and encouraged by the faculty. They have also reinforced that presentation counts. “We’re the first students from our school that these hospitals and doctors are coming in contact with, so we want to make a good first impression,” he says. It’s advice he’s taken “very seriously” particularly now that he’s doing clinical rotations with Baptist Memorial Health Care.

King is also taking on another challenge: serving as national president of the

Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA), the student arm of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). “It is such an enormous honor,” says King, who was elected to lead the national 15,000-member student organ­

ization this past October. “The people I have had the chance to work with in SOMA are so driven and inspiring. Seeing and working with them throughout the year is something I cherish and always look forward to.”

with professors and peers.”

Last year, Caruso was one of seven NYIT students who participated in a service-learning trip to Charleston, W.Va., a community with poor access

to proper health care. She helped conduct interactive workshops addressing a variety of health needs for community members. Caruso also worked with geriatric patients with dementia, did physical disability fieldwork, and saw 48 students a week at an elementary school. “I feel like my fieldwork really shaped me as a professional,” she says.

Caruso is building on that experience now that she is treating patients with neurological and orthopedic conditions and those who are ventilator dependent. Eventually, she’d like to pursue a Ph.D. in occupational therapy and teach at the college level.

A M A NDA CA RUSO (B.S. ’1 7, M.S. ’18) OC C U PAT I ON A L T H ER A PI ST, M E D F O RD M U LT ICA RE C E N T E R OC C U PAT I ON A L T H ER A PY, S C H O O L O F H E A LT H P RO F ES S ION S

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ew students can boast a perfect academic record, but Amanda Caruso (B.S. ’17, M.S. ’18) graduated with a 4.0 GPA and served as valedictorian of her class. “I really credit my professors for doing such a great job teaching me and always being available to answer questions or offer help,” says Caruso. “I also want to thank my OT colleagues, Michael and Lauren, for the endless study sessions and helping me surpass my goals. “

Caruso’s interest in occupational therapy developed in high school while volunteering with children with autism. “I saw how the therapists worked with the kids and it fit well with my passion for helping others,” she says. Her interest in NYIT stemmed from a closer relationship—her father is an alumnus. “Everyone helps each other to succeed,” she says.

“Small classes allowed me to form strong connections

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Fighting Stress and Burnout

HEAL THYSELF Taking good care of others doesn’t necessarily mean taking good care of yourself. Initiatives at NYIT take steps to combat the stress and burnout health providers experience early in their education.

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t’s a difficult conundrum: students are attracted to medicine and the health professions out of a desire to promote wellness and help others, but the education and training involved often causes them high levels of stress and burnout. Without treatment, that stress can lead to serious results. Tragically, according to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, an estimated 400 medical students, residents, and physicians take their own lives each year.

NYIT is not only focused on bringing awareness to this issue, but also offers health and wellness initiatives designed to support student mental health. “Doctors and health professionals know how to take care of others, but they sometimes neglect to take care of their own minds and bodies. You can’t really be good at healing others if you don’t take care of yourself first,” says Jerry Balentine, D.O., dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine and NYIT vice president for health sciences and medical affairs. “We want to be a leader in promoting health and wellness for our students, our faculty members, our patients at the Riland Academic Health Care Center, and the patients of the future.”

Since joining NYIT in 2015, Balentine has made student wellness a priority. “It’s about the message we send to students,” he says. “If the school invests its resources in these efforts, they must be important. So

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Fighting Stress and Burnout

we’re trying to model what’s important in our behavior, facilities, and research.”

Much of the stress from medical school comes from the sheer amount of information students are expected to learn. “When you’re expected to do two or three years of work in a semester, that’s going to stress just about everybody out,” says Carl Abraham, M.D., assistant professor of Clinical Medicine at NYITCOM-Arkansas.

Students in the School of Health Professions face similar academic demands as well as the pressure and responsibility of caring for others while they are still in the process of learning their field. As a result, many students in both schools find themselves struggling academically for the first time in their lives. On top of that, they worry about residencies and licensure exams and are burdened with loans.

The competition and fear of failing out results in students studying as much

(Above) Studies like Fit Physicians show the positive impact of physical activity on mental well-being.

(Previous page) Students sit on a bench along the Healing Path on the Long Island campus. The path provides spaces for reflection and decompression.

as 16 hours a day. “If you ask a medical student to choose between studying or doing something that’s healthy for themselves, students will always pick academics,” says Joanne Donoghue, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of clinical research.

The question is: How can NYIT help students lead healthier lives and meet their own high expectations?

L E A RNIN G T O BE W E L L

Busy students often forgo exercise, skip meals, or develop unhealthy eating habits. Balentine wanted to address that. Shortly after joining NYIT, he initiated Run with the VP and Walk with the Dean, an informal mentoring and fitness program to help medical and health professions students focus on something besides their studies.

“We could see the positive effect it was having on the students,” says Donoghue, an avid triathlete who was recruited to run with the group. “So we decided to take it to the next level with a research study to actually measure the impact of the physical activity.”

During the 2016–2017 academic year, 124 medical students participated in the clinical trial, Fit Physician. Participants wore a Fitbit activity tracker alone and combined with an educational program. The study demonstrated that using wearable technology in conjunction with education and fitness challenges was an effective way to support physical activity and health outcome measures in medical students. (Results

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were presented at the 2017 American College of Sports Medicine conference and published in Preventive Medicine in September 2018.)

With support from the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), Donoghue launched a follow-up project to study the impact of physical activity on mental well-being. More than half of students said “working out” helped them cope with stress.

And physical activity is just one aspect of student wellness. Sleep, meditation, nutrition, and counseling are essential components to finding balance in mind and body—a fact reinforced by faculty research.

For example, Bhuma Krishnamachari, Ph.D., associate professor and assistant dean of research, and Balentine have received funding from the AOA for a two-year study to see whether using the meditation app Headspace helps students increase empathy and reduce stress. A forthcoming project will use biometric measurement to study female stress.

“We know from the literature that female medical students experience more stress than male medical students,” Krishnamachari says. “We’re trying to do an extensive project where we figure out exactly why.”

Nutrition also plays an important role. In 2017, Lorraine Mongiello, Dr.PH., RDN, associate professor of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences and Clinical Nutrition, and Mindy Haar, Ph.D., RDN, assistant dean of undergraduate affairs in the School of Health Professions and director of academic management, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, launched the Garden Lecture Series, which includes classes on nutrition and the use of a garden on the Long Island campus.

“We have 10 modules that we hold right in the garden or the classroom right next to it,” says Haar, a clinical nutritionist. Topics range from diabetes and hypertension to “carb counting” and diets to the benefits of cooking with fresh herbs. “As future health professionals, our students are very interested in the mind-body connection. They also enjoy harvesting from the garden for their own use.”

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“We want to be a leader in promoting health and wellness for our students, our faculty members, our patients at the Riland Academic Health Care Center, and the patients of the future.”

—DEAN JERRY BALENTINE

events about mental health awareness and resources for faculty, staff, and students. “As a result, there will be more checks and balances in place so the community as a whole is more cognizant of the issue and can identify and reach out to those in need,” she says.

Both the Long Island and Arkansas locations are building on efforts to help students. “The idea is to build in some intentional time for decompression to help prevent student burnout,” says Nicole Wadsworth, D.O., site dean, NYITCOM (Long Island), and professor of Emergency Medicine. For example, in Arkansas, faculty mentors meet with students regularly. “We’re letting our students know that if they notice something wrong with a classmate, they need to speak up and not stand on the sideline. We’re all in this together,” says Abraham.

“The overarching goal is to provide students with the tools to deal with the stress that’s inherent in their profession, to learn to take care of themselves so they can best care for others,” adds Balentine. “That’s just as important as the science we’re teaching them; a very good professional school needs to emphasize both.” n

WA L K IN G A PAT H T O W E L L NE S S

Perhaps the most visible commitment to student wellness is the Healing Path, which winds around the iconic pond near the medical school. The student-led initiative, opened in 2017, leverages the beauty of the Long Island campus to create spaces for self-reflection and decompression.

“It’s an effort to shift the culture and destigmatize mental health issues as well as encourage people to be outdoors and not isolate themselves studying all the time,” says fourth-year medical student Matthew Goldfinger who spearheaded the effort with current third-year student Samantha Gottlieb and Alexander Nello (D.O. ’18).

The Healing Path was funded with more than $100,000 in donations from the NYIT community, including a gift from Humayun Chaudhry (D.O. ’91), CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards. “If [the path] improves the well-being of one future doctor, it’s worth every effort,” said Chaudhry when asked about his involvement in the project. Other major donors included NYIT Board of Trustee Daniel Ferrara (D.O. ’86) and Danielle Ferrara as well as Joshua Hourizadeh (D.O. ’10).

Psychiatrist Liat Jarkon (D.O. ’87), M.P.H., assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine, agrees that efforts to help physicians can pay off. “While the suicide rate amongst medical professional is sobering, it’s not a mandate. We’re working diligently on promoting mental health awareness across our campus.” That includes educational

GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP Melanie Austin (B.S. ’00), O.T.D., M.P.A., is assistant professor of Occupational Therapy at the School of Health Professions and NYIT’s Faculty Athletics Representative. With support of the NIH (National Institutes of Health) NHLBI Programs to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research (PRIDE), she plans to study students’ perception of sleep.

“Lack of quality sleep is an epidemic for young adults,” says Austin, who received training over the past two summers in the NYU Langone

Behavioral and Sleep Medicine Institute. To identify how students and student-athletes perceive sleep and develop a culture to improve sleep, Austin is collaborating with students in NYIT’s undergraduate computer science program to develop a sleep-related app. “We’re going to focus this initial prototype on what would motivate the user to make small changes in their routine,” she says. By improving sleep, she says, students can improve mental well-being and performance.

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PROFILES IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE Last September, he took a position with the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center S P EC I AL PR OJ ECTS COO RD IN ATO R, (CBWCHC), a nonprofit and T H E C H A R LES B. WA N G C O M M U N IT Y H E A LT H C E N T E R federally qualified health center, H EALT H SCI EN CES, SCH O O L O F H E A LT H P RO F ES S IO N S as a special projects coordinator where he manages various projects, including relationships n his senior year, Christopher and helped his former NYIT with New York City government Frumusa (B.S. ’14) was part professor evaluate student as CBWCHC launches its project of a multidisciplinary team of performance from his vantage to build a new Health Center students charged with redesigning point in health-care administration. in Flushing, Queens. an elderly person’s home so that Since 2016, Frumusa has been Initially, Frumusa wanted they could safely age in place. an account manager for Innovatix, to become a physical therapist.

The project was conducted for his an organization that manages He was admitted into NYIT’s health sciences capstone course. accounts and analyzes cost six-year B.S./D.P.T. program, Today, Frumusa is on the other side savings for senior living, but he switched his major to of the table: He recently served as skilled nursing, and assisted health sciences. A series of a judge for project presentations living facilities. electives pointed him toward

CHRIS T OPHER FRUMUS A (B.S. ’1 4)

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health-care administration.

After graduating from NYIT, he went on to earn a master’s in health-care administration from Hofstra University.

Frumusa says his NYIT education prepared him well for his graduate work, but the life skills he gained at NYIT were just as important as the academics.

He served as a resident assistant and later was head resident assistant. “Learning to manage people—particularly peers—was really valuable,” he says. “It was a hard job to have while handling all those science classes, but it really taught me responsibility and time management.”

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when she decided on her career.

NYIT’s online master’s in clinical nutrition enabled her to continue working while earning her degree. While she completed most of her coursework online, Anand developed meaningful relationships with professors,

particularly Mindy Haar, Ph.D., RDN, director of academic management in NYIT School of Health Professions. Haar helped her secure a dietetic internship, which is required to become a registered dietitian (RD).

Anand also earned a Certificate in Global Health and completed a practicum in Ghana, Africa, where she was part of a team examining nutritional differences among children in various rural villages. “Seeing the barriers to good nutrition and adequate growth in a remote part of the world is something that I will never forget,” she says.

“All babies need to eat, sleep, and grow. Being a dietitian on a team where nutrition and growth are a huge part of the baby’s care is extremely rewarding.”

like to become a hospital administrator and address some of the issues she learned about through her work last summer. But right now, her biggest decision is deciding on a specialty. “I’m torn between OB-GYN and anesthesiology. I am also interested in women’s

health as well as tackling the growing opioid epidemic that is often prompted by improper pain management,” she says.

“Whatever area I specialize in, I plan to work in a public hospital to treat underserved communities that cannot afford private health care.”

ALIX ANAND (M.S. ’12 ) NEONATA L D I ET I T I A N , N E W YO RK- P RES BY T E RIA N MORGAN STA N LEY CH I LD RE N ’S H O S P ITA L C LI NI CAL N U T R I T I ON , SC H O O L O F H E A LT H P RO F ES S IO N S

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s a neonatal dietitian at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Alix Anand (M.S. ’12) is on a team responsible for an average of at least 20 babies at a time. Her day starts with rounds, during which everything regarding a patient’s nutritional status is discussed. “We have a lot of extremely premature and very sick babies that require parenteral nutrition,” says Anand.

“I work with the team to design what the baby needs—how much

fluid, how much protein, how much dextrose, how much fat.

I’m crunching numbers for a great part of my day.”

Before deciding to pursue a degree in nutrition, Anand studied psychobiology at SUNYBinghamton. After graduating, she spent a year with the New York City Service Corps, where she worked with a nonprofit culinary program, Spoons Across America, serving children throughout the five boroughs of New York City. That was

NIN A LUKS A N A POL D.O. , OST EOPAT H I C M EDIC IN E , C L AS S O F 2 0 2 1 NY I TC O M ( N EW YOR K )

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econd-year NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) student Nina Luksanapol was riding the New York City subway last summer when she heard the good news. She had received a scholarship from the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program, a federally funded program to improve health care in medically underserved areas.

As part of the program, she was assigned to the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center. “I operated the syringe exchange program, administered vaccines to clients, created a

curriculum for support groups, and conducted rapid HIV and hepatitis C testing,” she says.

“I was thrown into all of the agency’s operations right from the beginning, and it was an experience for which I cannot be thankful enough.”

Now, she is drawing on that experience to better understand her future patients and prepare for a career in medicine. “After a year of keeping my head in my books, it was refreshing to work in a place that brought me back to why I wanted to become a physician,” she explains.

Eventually, Luksanapol would

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Ne w York I n st it ute of Te c h nolo g y

LEADERSHIP

NYITCOM AND NYIT SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

JERRY BALENTINE, D.O., FACEP, FACOEP

GORDON SCHMIDT, PH.D., FACSM

Dean, NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Vice President, Health Sciences and Medical Affairs

Professor and Dean, NYIT School of Health Professions

Produced by NYIT Office of Strategic Communications and External Affairs New York Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 8000 Old Westbury, N.Y. 11568-8000 ©2019 New York Institute of Technology Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without written permission.

Photographs: Alexander Berg, Travis Clayton, Dost Khalique, Jim Lutz, William Motzing, Casey Pearce, Barry Sloan, Martin Seck, and courtesy of NYIT, Arkansas State University, and subjects.

NICOLE WADSWORTH, D.O., FACOEP, FACEP

SHANE SPEIGHTS, D.O., FAAFP

Site Dean, NYITCOM (Long Island), and Professor of Emergency Medicine

Site Dean, NYITCOM (Arkansas), and Associate Professor of Medicine

Contributors: Renee Levy, Alix Sobler Design: Ted Keller

Wilson Hall is home to NYITCOM-Arkansas, which opened in 2016 to train osteopathic medical professionals to serve the Mississippi Delta region.

New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine Northern Boulevard P.O. Box 8000 Old Westbury, N.Y. 11568-8000

LEARN MORE ABOUT OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE AND HEALTH PROFESSIONS AT NYIT: nyit.edu/medicine nyit.edu/health_professions

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